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8/20/2013 Chamber News

LSA Class Focuses on Economic Development and Infrastructure

Leadership San Antonio Class 38 met on August 7 to focus on San Antonio’s opportunities and challenges as related to building key industries, economic development efforts, transportation and infrastructure in San Antonio.

The day began at Six Flags Fiesta Texas where the group was welcomed by Jeff Siebert, Marketing Director. He went over the details of the park and all that it has to offer its visitors. Afterward, Marco Barros, President and CEO of the San Antonio Area Tourism Council, spoke about the importance of tourism in the city.

“The Tourism Council strives to promote and support development of the industry while helping to preserve and enhance the character of San Antonio and its surrounding areas,” Barros said.

Class members were also briefed by representatives from Lone Star Rail District, San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization and San Antonio International Airport. The group then had the opportunity to test out the Superman: Ride of Steel rollercoaster and the new Sky Screamer ride at the park.

For the next portion of the day, the class loaded a VIA Primo bus and took a ride to Tre Trattoria for lunch. On the way to the restaurant, they were given a presentation from class member Jeff Arndt, President and CEO of VIA Metropolitan Transit, and Brian Buchannan, Chief Development Officer of VIA, about shaping the bus rapid transit system and its benefits. Primo has frequent 10-minute peak service between the Medical Center and downtown. It also offers convenient extensions to UTSA. The high-capacity vehicles are CNG-powered, have free Wi-Fi, wheelchair self-restraint, bikes on board and LCD information displays.

During lunch, the LSA class heard from District 1 City Councilman Diego Bernal, who spoke about the growth of downtown San Antonio over the last decade and what the future holds. Ramiro Cavazos, President and CEO of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Lourdes Castro Ramírez, President and CEO of San Antonio Housing Authority, also addressed the class about city and county economic development.

When lunch was over, everyone walked to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, where Michael Sawaya; Director of the Convention, Sports and Entertainment Facilities for The City of San Antonio; discussed the operations and management of the Convention Center, Lila Cockrell Theater, The Alamodome and Wolff Stadium. Sawaya reported that more than 500 events occur in the facilities each year with a total attendance of over 1.9 million people.

Next, Andrés Andújar, CEO of Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation, talked with the class about the planning, development, construction, management, maintenance, and financing of the 10-year redevelopment of Hemisfair Park.

Then, the group was greeted by Travis Poling, author of Beer Across Texas, and Joey Villarreal, owner of Blue Star Brewing Company, who both spoke about small business and the craft beer industry in San Antonio. The craft beer industry has significantly grown over the last few years in San Antonio and has been a welcome addition. They discussed the five beer-related bills that were signed into law in June 2013 that could potentially signal a sea of change in the way Texas’ craft brewers package and sell beers.

The day concluded with remarks from the highly-esteemed speaker Ed Whitacre, former Chairman, President and CEO of AT&T Inc. Under his leadership at Southwestern Bell Corporation, later SBC Communications, he made significant domestic and international investments and established groundbreaking partnerships. SBC joined BellSouth to create Cingular Wireless, which later acquired AT&T Wireless. Through his disciplined growth strategy and a series of industry changing mergers and acquisitions, including the acquisition of AT&T Corp., the company adopted the name AT&T Inc. Whitacre retired from AT&T in 2007 and joined General Motors Company (GM) in 2009 as Chairman, then later elected Chairman and CEO. He made many managerial changes, combined sales and marketing responsibilities and consolidated control of GM’s North American market under one executive. One year after declaring bankruptcy, the company earned $1.3 billion and prepared to pay back the government’s bailout. He has since retired from GM, but continues to extend his leadership roles to the community in many ways.

The members of LSA Class 38 are grouped into committees responsible for developing agendas for each of the eight class days. The agenda for Economic Development and Infrastructure Day was developed by class members:

 LSA is a joint partnership of The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Click here for more information on LSA or email Priscilla Camacho.